Sweetness collides with strength in this programme featuring vocal and instrumental music of the Italian Renaissance and French Baroque. Both Francesca Caccini and Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre enjoyed long careers as professional composers, in the Florentine Medici court and Versailles respectively. Caccini’s exceptional gifts as a singer and composer were such that the King of France tried, unsuccessfully, to poach her; Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre rose under the reign of Madame de Montespan, one of Louis XIV’s most culturally influential mistresses. Gramophone’s 2018 Artist of the Year, Rachel Podger, is joined by mezzo Ciara Hendrick for this alluring sequence; songs depict floral scents and gentle caresses, but we are thrust into violent storms sent by Neptune in Jacquet de la Guerre’s cantata Le Sommeil d’Ulisse. Instrumental dances, including Caccini’s Romanesca and Ciaccona, leave us twirling in hypnotic delight.

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Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – Barbara Strozzi

Thu 10 Jan 20197.30pm

Barbara Strozzi was famed throughout 17th century Venice for her glorious voice and artistry, ‘la virtuosissima cantatrice’ of the city state. Yet this pupil of Cavalli was quietly creating a unique musical legacy.

The Local Honeys

Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women

Sat 12 Jan 20196.30pm

Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (Alley Acker, 2014) is a documentary hosted by Jodie Foster which uses rare footage and exclusive interviews with filmmakers and corrects the notion that women have been

Musica Secreta at St Pancras New Church

Wed 16 Jan 20197.30pm

Musica Secreta takes the listener from the mystical songs composed by Hildegard of Bingen, via medieval convents of France and Spain to the great flowering of polyphonic music in the numerous convents of the Italian Renaissance.

The Quietus Presents: Nik Void & Ashley Paul

Thu 17 Jan 20198pm

Nik Void is an experimental electronic artist and producer, best known as one half of DFA signings Factory Floor, while Ashley Paul is a multi-instrumentalist who creates a delicate palette, uniquely her own, using saxophone, clarinet, voice, prepared guitar and percussion.

Browse more

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – Barbara Strozzi

Thu 10 Jan 20197.30pm

Barbara Strozzi was famed throughout 17th century Venice for her glorious voice and artistry, ‘la virtuosissima cantatrice’ of the city state. Yet this pupil of Cavalli was quietly creating a unique musical legacy.

The Local Honeys

Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women

Sat 12 Jan 20196.30pm

Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (Alley Acker, 2014) is a documentary hosted by Jodie Foster which uses rare footage and exclusive interviews with filmmakers and corrects the notion that women have been

Musica Secreta at St Pancras New Church

Wed 16 Jan 20197.30pm

Musica Secreta takes the listener from the mystical songs composed by Hildegard of Bingen, via medieval convents of France and Spain to the great flowering of polyphonic music in the numerous convents of the Italian Renaissance.

The Quietus Presents: Nik Void & Ashley Paul

Thu 17 Jan 20198pm

Nik Void is an experimental electronic artist and producer, best known as one half of DFA signings Factory Floor, while Ashley Paul is a multi-instrumentalist who creates a delicate palette, uniquely her own, using saxophone, clarinet, voice, prepared guitar and percussion.